No rib on your pullover?

Sometimes you may want to knit a sweater where the body has no rib at the end. Trouble is, when you knit in stockinette (stocking) stitch, it insists on curling up at the end!  Oh, I've been there ... looked good in the picture but I was forever pulling it down.

My next sweater will have a lot of detail around the neckline and so, I want to take all emphasis off the lower half. One way to stop the dreaded curl is to knit a hem.

How to do it

First, knit about 4cm (1.5") in stockinette.

Next, using a smaller sized DPN (double pointed needle), pick up 'stitches' at the end, and at the rear.

Pick up the same number of stitches as you are knitting

Double it over

Knit 2 stitches together - one from the main needle and one from the double-pointed-needle

Continue knitting two stitches together for the rest of the row

Here's the completed row

After a few more rows it looks like this

Wide jumpers

This would work well with loose-fitting sweaters, though I'm not so sure about fitted ones. Depends, I guess, on whether or not you'd like to have a cosy rib around your hips to keep you warm.

Floppy drapes

While most stockinette stitch without any rib jumpers will curl, there are a few exceptions. A loose-knit stitch will have little or no curl. By this I mean knitting with a needle that is at least two sizes larger than standard.

Some yarns are floppier that others - such as cotton or silk. Silk you ask? Who can afford that? Perhaps I should have said silk-blend instead.

What about my sleeves?

Just because the body has no rib, it doesn't automatically follow that the sleeves have to have no rib. Sleeves are a smaller circle than the body, which means that  stockinette stitch without any rib will not curl up as much as the body would.

Variations

If you are familiar with provisional-cast-on, it would probably would be easier than a traditional cast-on.

You could sew the hem instead of picking up stitches with the DPN.

For a flatter hem or a fancy picot edge, this YouTube video by  Knitting Blooms is really good - Turned Hem Edge

Conclusion

If you really don't want a rib on  the body of your stockinette (stocking) stitch sweater, it will curl. The great thing about a craft like knitting is that there is always another way. This is one workaround is basically turning a hem!